Help needed: How to refine color work?

[TAF17]

Over the past couple of months on and off I've been trying to get a better handle on color and digital color. I use a wacom cintiq for all my digital colors which makes things a lot easier than a regular tablet. Doing traditional painting or coloring, I have an easier time getting the refinement and details to come out right than I do with digital. I still feel my digital paintings look a little blurry and not as crisp as I would like. A lot of my studies have been relatively quick, but I just don't know how to refine them. Also, I'm trying to figure out brush settings too. Any suggestions? I would really appreciate any feedback anyone can give me. I'll included two of my most recent digital color studies for review. References were used. Thank you so much!

[pauloricardo]

Hello, I think the pumpkin is good, but the dog is wearing a strange necklace, which seems to be part of its body.

About your skills, I thinh that just training can improve it, go ahead with other works.

Best regards

[Havok Reed]

Hello, I think the pumpkin is good, but the dog is wearing a strange necklace, which seems to be part of its body.

About your skills, I thinh that just training can improve it, go ahead with other works.

Best regards

lol that's a doggy shirt, if that is what you are referring to.

Taf...Your images don't look blurry, but what I think you might try doing is straight up values first, black and white. Then you can add your color later. It looks to me that you could push the values much further. Right now you are running into muddiness from lack of values, resulting in a "blurry" / non-crisp look. I took your pumpkin as an example to show the difference in value, granted I really exaggerated the values, it still shows you how much more it adds to it.

On a side note....How did you get your hands on a cintiq, I want one so bad!

[Heyriel]

Maybe it would be helpful if you'd post your reference images along with the paintings
But anyway, adding to what *Havok Reed said about values, which is certainly 100% true, you probably need to observe much more closely; The pumpkins mid-tone is orange, it's shadow dark-orange and it's light parts light-orange. Same problem with the dogs fur. How about a bit more hue variation? Move the shadows a bit into red, the light parts a bit into yellow and play with saturation as well. Don't paint what you expect to see but what is really there, for example this white dog: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/images9/Tundra.jpg Would you paint it with white, mid-grey and dark-grey? No, the fur has a bit of blue, yellow and even pink in it.

[TAF17]

On a side note....How did you get your hands on a cintiq, I want one so bad!

Havok, I got it as a half graduation gift, half I saved up for it myself after I graduated college. It definitely is worth the investment! I just could not get the right feel with a regular tablet especially since I am so used to working traditionally.

[TAF17]

Maybe it would be helpful if you'd post your reference images along with the paintings ...
... How about a bit more hue variation? Move the shadows a bit into red, the light parts a bit into yellow and play with saturation as well. Don't paint what you expect to see but what is really there, for example, would you paint it with white, mid-grey and dark-grey? No, the fur has a bit of blue, yellow and even pink in it.

You're right. I generally do know that, and am no stranger to adding different hues to make color pop when working traditionally, but I guess it hasn't translated yet to my digital work. I will work on that more, thank you for pointing it out.

As far as reference images go, I'll attach in here. Both were from photos(and yes, I know it is always better to work from life, but for quick color studies, I feel photos tend to work best for now.)

[TAF17]

Taf...Your images don't look blurry, but what I think you might try doing is straight up values first, black and white. Then you can add your color later.

Havok - If I did values first, how would I translate to color afterwards? Just paint on top? Or overlay?

[Havok Reed]

Havok - If I did values first, how would I translate to color afterwards? Just paint on top? Or overlay?

You can use a "Color" layer under the layer properties at the very bottom of the list. It keeps the color you use consistent with the value.

These are just a couple basic layer properties, including color. It's a matter of playing with it. You can see if you use Overlay, it becomes much more saturated and brighter compared to using the "Color" option.